WVC 24 A- 2 - 1
§24A-2-1. Subject to public utility and common carrier laws.
All common carriers by motor vehicle are hereby declared to
be affected with a public interest and subject to the laws of
this state now in force or that hereafter may be enacted
pertaining to public utilities and common carriers as far as
applicable, and not in conflict herewith.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 2
§24A-2-2. Provisions of chapter to govern; common carrier
certificate and contract carrier permit.
No common carrier by motor vehicle shall operate any motor
facility for transportation of either persons or property for
hire or any public highway in this state except in accordance
with the provisions of this chapter, and no person, after January
one, one thousand nine hundred forty, shall, at the same time,
hold under this chapter a certificate as a common carrier and a
permit as a contract carrier authorizing operations for the
transportation of property by motor vehicles over the same route
or within the same territory unless for good cause shown and the
commission determines that such certificate and permit may be
held consistent with the public interest and the policy stated in
section one, article one of this chapter.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 2 A
§24A-2-2a. Regulation of business of towing, hauling or carrying
wrecked or disabled vehicles.

(a) On and after July one, one thousand nine hundred eighty-two, common carriers by motor vehicles engaged in the business of
towing, hauling or carrying wrecked or disabled vehicles shall,
notwithstanding any other provision of the laws of the state of
West Virginia to the contrary, be regulated by the provisions of
this section and this section shall not be applicable to said
carriers until such date.

(b) No common carrier by motor vehicle engaged in the business
of towing, hauling or carrying wrecked or disabled vehicles and
mobile homes shall be required to obtain a common carrier
certificate or other certificate of authority from the commission
prior to engaging in such business, however, such carrier shall not
engage in such business unless and until such carrier shall have
registered as a carrier with the commission in accordance with the
provisions of this section.

(c) A person may not act as a common carrier by motor vehicle
by engaging in the business of towing, hauling or carrying wrecked
or disabled motor vehicles for hire unless that person has
registered as a carrier with the public service commission as
provided in this section; nor, may a person continue to act as a
carrier by engaging in the business of towing, hauling or carrying
wrecked or disabled motor vehicles for hire if his registration is
revoked or suspended by the commission. A person registered as a
carrier under the provisions of this section may not charge,
demand, collect or receive a greater remuneration for the towing, hauling or carrying of any wrecked or disabled motor vehicle than
the rates, fares and charges established by the provisions of this
section.

The commission shall register all carriers as may make
application for registration as a common carrier by motor vehicle
for the purpose of engaging in the business of towing, hauling or
carrying wrecked or disabled motor vehicles for hire upon
satisfactory evidence to the commission that the carrier has
complied with all applicable requirements of this chapter and all
applicable rules and regulations of the commission. The commission
shall by general order, applicable to all carriers registered under
this section, fix, alter and determine just, fair, reasonable and
sufficient maximum statewide or regional schedules of rates, fares
and charges, and it shall establish reasonable classifications of
carriers for which the schedules are applicable, but before the
rates, fares and charges are fixed, altered or determined, the
commission shall hold hearings in order to give all interested
parties an opportunity to be heard, and it shall give reasonable
notice of the hearings in the manner as the commission shall by
rule prescribe. Carriers registered under the provisions of this
section are subject to the regulatory powers of the commission as
provided in section three of this article.

Upon the complaint of any aggrieved party, the commission may
suspend or revoke the registration of any person registered with
the commission under the provisions of this section for the
violation of any rule or regulation established by the commission
and applicable to that person or for the violation of any provision of this article applicable to persons registered under the
provisions of this section: Provided, That for the first
violation, suspension of registration shall be for a period of not
more than thirty days; and, for a second violation the commission
may revoke the registration for a period of one year; and, for a
third violation the commission may revoke the registration
permanently. But before any suspension or revocation is effected,
the person registered under this section shall first be given
reasonable notice of the charges against him and shall be granted
an opportunity to be heard by the commission or its designee in
accordance with the rules and regulations for hearings as may be by
rule established by the commission.

(a) On or before July 1, 2016, the Commission shall promulgate rules to effectuate the provisions of this article.

(b) The rules promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section shall describe:

(1) Factors determining the fair, effective and reasonable rates levied by a carrier for recovering, towing, hauling, carrying or storing a wrecked or disabled vehicle. The commission shall consider, but shall not be limited to:

(A) Tow vehicle(s) and special equipment required to complete recovery/tow;

(B) Total time to complete the recovery or tow;

(C) Number of regular and extra employees required to complete the recovery or tow;

(D) Location of vehicle recovered or towed;

(E) Materials or cargo involved in recovery or tow;

(F) Comparison with reasonable prices in the region;

(G) Weather conditions; and

(H) Any other relevant information having a direct effect on the pricing of the recovery, towing and storage of a recovered or towed vehicle;

(2) The process for filing a complaint, the review and investigation process to ensure it is fair, effective and timely: Provided, That in any formal complaint against a carrier relating to a third-party tow, the burden of proof to show that the carrier’s charges are just, fair and reasonable shall be upon the carrier;

(3) The process for aggrieved parties to recover the cost, from the carrier, for the charge or charges levied by a carrier for recovering, towing, hauling, carrying or storing a wrecked or disabled vehicle where the commission determines that such charge or charges are not otherwise just, fair or reasonable; and

(4) The process to review existing maximum statewide wrecker rates and special rates for the use of special equipment in towing and recovery work to ensure that rates are just, fair and reasonable: Provided, That the commission shall generally disapprove hourly and flat rates for ancillary equipment.

(c) All carriers regulated under this article shall list their approved rates, fares and charges on every invoice provided to an owner, operator or insurer of a wrecker or disabled motor vehicle.

(d) The rules promulgated pursuant to this article shall sunset on July 1, 2021, unless reauthorized.

(e) On or before December 31, 2020, the Legislative Auditor shall review the rules promulgated by the Public Service Commission under this section. The audit shall evaluate the rate-making policy for reasonableness, the complaint process for timeliness, the penalties for effectiveness and any other metrics the Legislative Auditor deems appropriate. The Legislative Auditor may recommend that the rule be reauthorized, reauthorized with amendment or repealed.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 3
§24A-2-3. Regulatory powers of commission.

The commission is vested with power and authority to supervise
and regulate all common carriers by motor vehicle and to fix,
alter, regulate, and determine just, fair, reasonable, and
sufficient rates, joint rates, charges and classifications; to
regulate the facilities, accounts, service and safety of operations
of each such carrier, to regulate operating and time schedules so
as to meet the reasonable needs of any community, so as to provide
adequate transportation service to the territory traversed by such
carriers, and so as to prevent unnecessary multiplication of
service among common carriers by motor vehicle and between them and
steam and electric railroads, to require the coordination of the
service facilities and schedules of competing common carriers by
motor vehicle or electric and steam railroads; to require the
filing of annual and other reports, tariff, schedules, and other
data by such common carriers, in all matters affecting the relation
between such carriers and the public and between such carriers and
other common carriers. The commission shall have power and
authority, by general order or otherwise, to prescribe rules and
regulations in conformity with this chapter applicable to any and
all such common carriers by motor vehicle and to do all things
necessary to carry out and enforce the provisions of this chapter.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 4
§24A-2-4. Rates, fares and charges.
All rates, fares and charges made by any common carrier by
motor vehicle shall be just and reasonable, and shall not be
unlawfully discriminatory, prejudicial nor preferential. No such
carrier shall charge, demand, collect, or receive a greater or
less or different remuneration for the transportation of
passengers or property, or for any service in connection
therewith, than the rates, fares, and charges which have been
legally established and filed with the commission; nor shall any
such carrier refund, remit, discount or rebate in any manner or
by any device any portion of the rates, fares, and charges
required to be collected by the tariffs on file with or ordered
by the commission.

Any common carrier transporting solid waste in this state
pursuant to authority granted under section five, article two,
chapter twenty-four-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, may make application to the
commission for approval of a rate surcharge to pass through any
increase in the disposal rate charged by the landfill at which
solid waste is disposed by the motor carrier, commonly known as the
tip fee, to commercial and residential customers, including
increases which are the direct result of fees, charges, taxes, or
any other assessment imposed upon the landfill by a governmental
body. The commission shall within fourteen days of receipt of said
application notify the motor carrier of approval of the requested
rate surcharge, or approval of a rate surcharge other than in the
amount requested and the reason therefor. The effective date of
the approved rate surcharge shall be the same date as the effective
date of the increase in the tip fee to which the surcharge relates;
except that in the event the application for approval of the rate
surcharge is received by the commission more than sixty days after
the effective date of the tip fee increase, then the effective date
of the approved rate surcharge shall be the date said application
was received by the commission.

The commission shall immediately promulgate emergency rules
which set forth the procedures for the filing of the tip fee rate
surcharge application. It is the purpose of this statute to
provide an expedited process which will allow the subject motor carriers to pass through tip fee increases to all customers. Only
that data necessary to review in accordance with this statute may
be required by the commission to be submitted by the motor carrier.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 4 B
§24A-2-4b. Motor carriers transporting solid waste; origin of
waste disclosure; penalties.
(a) The operator-driver of every solid waste motor carrier
vehicle which arrives at a commercial solid waste facility,
including, but not limited to, commercial landfills and transfer
stations, in this state is required to declare, in writing and
under oath, the name of the county and state of origin of the solid
waste being deposited at the commercial solid waste facility. The
operator-driver of the solid waste motor carrier vehicle shall give
a copy of this completed declaration form to the operator of the
commercial landfill or of the transfer station, to the West
Virginia Public Service Commission and to the county solid waste
authority.

(b) The Public Service Commission shall prepare and provide
commercial solid waste facility operators with a uniform disclosure
form for use in effecting this provision.

(c) Any operator-driver of a solid waste motor carrier vehicle
who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than
$500.

(d) Any owner of a solid waste motor carrier vehicle which
deposits solid waste in violation of this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $1,000.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 5
§24A-2-5. Certificate of convenience and necessity.

(a) Required;application;hearing;granting. -- It shall be
unlawful for any common carrier by motor vehicle to operate within
this state without first having obtained from the commission a
certificate of convenience and necessity. Upon the filing of an
application for such certificate, the commission shall set a time
a place for a hearing on the application: Provided, That the
commission may, after giving proper notice and if no protest is
received, waive formal hearing on the application. Notice shall be
by publication which shall state that a formal hearing may be
waived in the absence of a protest to such application. The notice
shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance
with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code and the publication area for such publication shall be the
proposed area of operation. The notice shall be published at least
ten days prior to the date of the hearing. After the hearing or
waiver by the commission of the hearing, if the commission finds
from the evidence that the public convenience and necessity require
the proposed service or any part thereof, it shall issue the
certificate as prayed for, or issue it for the partial exercise
only of the privilege sought, and may attach to the exercise of the
right granted by such certificate such terms and conditions as in
its judgment the public convenience and necessity may require, and
if the commission shall be of the opinion that the service rendered
by any common carrier holding a certificate of convenience and
necessity over any route or routes in this state is in any respect
inadequate or insufficient to met the public needs, such certificate holder shall be given reasonable time and opportunity
to remedy such inadequacy or insufficiency before any certificate
shall be granted to an applicant proposing to operate over such
route or routes as a common carrier. Before granting a certificate
to a common carrier by motor vehicle the commission shall take into
consideration existing transportation facilities in the territory
for which a certificate is sought, and in case it finds from the
evidence that the service furnished by existing transportation
facilities is reasonably efficient and adequate, the commission
shall not grant such certificate.

(b) Rulesandregulations;takingevidenceathearings;burden
ofproof. -- The commission shall prescribe such rules and
regulations as it may deem proper for the enforcement of the
provisions of this section and in establishing that public
convenience and necessity do exist the burden of proof shall be
upon the applicant. The commission may designate any of its
employees to take evidence at the hearing of any application for a
certificate and submit findings of fact as a part of a report or
reports to be made to the commission.

(c) Certificatenotfranchise,etc.;assignmentortransfer. -- No certificate issued in accordance with the terms of this
chapter shall be construed to be either a franchise or irrevocable
or to confer any proprietary or property rights in the use of the
public highways. No certificate issued under this chapter shall be
assigned or otherwise transferred without the approval of the
commission. Upon the death of a person holding a certificate, his
personal representative or representatives may operate under such certificate while the same remains in force and effect and, with
the consent of the commission, may transfer such certificate.

(d) Suspension,revocationoramendment. -- The commission may
at any time, for good cause, suspend and, upon not less than
fifteen days' notice to the grantee of any certificate and an
opportunity to be heard, revoke or amend any certificate.

(e) The commission shall have the authority, after hearing, to
ratify, approve and affirm those orders issued pursuant to this
section since the tenth day of March, nineteen hundred
seventy-nine. For the purposes of this subsection the commission
may give notice by a Class I legal advertisement of such hearing in
any newspaper or newspapers of general circulation in this state,
and such other newspapers as the commission may designate.

WVC 24 A- 2 - 6
§24A-2-6. For hire common carriers of passengers; definitions;
driving time; rules.
(a) When used in this section, the following words and phrases
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:

(1) "Driving time" means all time spent at the driving
controls of a commercial for-hire vehicle designed to transport
passengers;

(2) "Eight consecutive days" means the period of eight
consecutive days beginning on any day at the time designated by the
for-hire carrier for a twenty-four-hour period;

(3) "On duty time" means all time from the time a driver
begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the
time he or she is relieved from work and all responsibility for
performing work; and

(4) "Twenty-four-hour period" means any twenty-four-
consecutive-hour period beginning at the time designated by the
for-hire carrier for the terminal from which the driver is normally
dispatched.

(b) The provisions of this section apply only to for-hire
carriers operated by an on board driver which is designed to
transport passengers exclusively on any public highway or road in
this state. The provisions of this section apply only to
intrastate commerce and do not apply where preempted by federal
regulation.

(c) Drivers of for-hire carriers may not:

(1) Engage in driving time of a for-hire vehicle for more than
ten consecutive hours without eight consecutive hours off duty;

(2) Engage in
driving time of a for-hire vehicle after the
driver has on duty time of fifteen hours without eight consecutive
hours off duty; or

(3) Engage in
driving time of a for-hire vehicle after the
driver has been on duty for a total of seventy consecutive hours
within eight consecutive days.

(d) For-hire carrier companies shall keep time records, for
six months, indicating the time all for-hire drivers report for
duty, the time of relief from duty, hours driven, hours on duty,
and hours off duty. These records shall be made available to the
state police and the public service commission.

(e) The public service commission may promulgate rules
necessary to implement the provisions of this section.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
The West Virginia Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.